The first activity ( Strand 1) involves comparative evaluation of the effect upon public service delivery of the New Public Management, applying the complex adaptive systems framework developed at TCD, which highlights the importance of “information agents” in decision-making. Comparative case studies will be developed within this framework, with the central aim of developing a deeper understanding of the role of information agents in public service systems, focusing on the policy areas of housing and healthcare.

The second activity ( Strand 2) involves a systematic comparative evaluation of burgeoning ad hoc experiments in “inclusive decision-making” on both sides of the border. Increasingly influential in the real world, these practical experiments have never been subjected to systematic scientific evaluation. The core objective is to evaluate the performance of real world experiments of inclusive deliberation and decision-making, facilitating the development of practical policies for involving citizens in a richer way in the processes of public decision-making.

Each activity will derive full value from the hitherto under-exploited phenomenon that the border has defined two policy jurisdictions, north and south, creating a unique “natural laboratory” for comparative public policy research.